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Meghan Trainor’s memories of going back to school as a kid include some highs … and some lows.
The “All About That Bass” singer, 31, has fond memories of back-to-school shopping, though, and she tells PEOPLE that it was probably her favorite part of heading back to school every year.
But it wasn’t about the clothes for her.
“I was on a little island, so we didn’t have school supplies, so we would take a boat and go to Target off island, or Staples was our jam,” Trainor shares of growing up on Nantucket, Mass., and having to travel to shop. “That was always fun. That was the best part of starting school was like, ‘Oh, I get to go to the mainland!'”
State Farm
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Trainor gushes over how much she loved buying school supplies but admits she actually was “terrified” to go back to school each fall and experienced “bad school anxiety.”
She worked through it, but now as she’s preparing to see her oldest son Riley, 4, whom she shares with husband Daryl Sabara, 33, off to school for the first time, she’s thinking back to her own school days and trying not to put any of that pressure on him.
“It’s not fair to do,” she says, adding that Riley is “excited” to go to school.
Trainor spoke to PEOPLE at an event for State Farm, where she was being celebrated for her first ad spot with the brand. In the “Trainor vs. Trainer” commercial, the singer found herself opposite Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes as Jake from State Farm pointed out that he needed a “trainer” but instead got … Meghan Trainor.
She calls the whole thing a “career highlight.”
“I just couldn’t believe State Farm even knew my name, truly. Then on set, I just got to freestyle it and be funny. The director was so nice and was like, ‘The goal is to make Pat Mahomes laugh.’ I started to make them giggle, and my older brother thought I was the coolest. And they used a lot of my freestyle lines in the commercial,” she says of filming.
Getting to work with Mahomes actually worked out well for the mom of two, because she says that while she’s not a “diehard” fan of any one NFL team, she knows who she’s “supposed” to root for, thanks to her brothers, Ryan and Justin.
“I know when my brother says, ‘Who do you want to win?’ I say, ‘Pat Mahomes, Chiefs, I love them,'” she says of where her allegiances lie these days in football.
Mahomes may have won Trainor over with his slick football skills, but Jake from State Farm — whose real name is Kevin Miles — takes the top spot in the friend department if she had to choose. She says she’d pick the Super Bowl champ first for her team if it were a real football game, but to hang out? She’s going with Jake.
“Jake’s my number one always, my best friend,” she jokes. “I will hang out with Jake all day and get dinner. He’s a fun guy to hang out with.”
